Losing Things
by shimotsuki11
Summary: Remus finds he's been losing things lately, but that may not be so terrible after all.  RL/NT, Teddy.  AU, in the "By a Thread" ficverse.


**Losing Things**

_Mid October, 1998_

"Oh, come _on._" Remus ground his teeth and started going through all his pockets, one by one.

Again.

The clock chimed, mocking his plight. Dora would be home any second now, with Andromeda right behind her.

At least Teddy was quiet, lying on a green and yellow blanket and watching as the school of silvery fish that Remus had conjured swam slowly around the living room—

"Aaaaaaaaaaa!"

All right, _had been_ quiet.

Trying not to give in _entirely_ to his rising panic, Remus scooped up his small son and jiggled him gently. "Hush, little lad. Hush, now, and give me a chance to find it before Mummy comes home, all right?"

Teddy calmed down again, hiccoughing quietly, and Remus started to breathe a sigh of relief.

Until the front door swung open.

"Wotcher!" Dora beamed. She closed the door behind her, dropped her satchel, hung up her cloak, and charged into the living room to wrap her arms around them both. She kissed Teddy on the top of his head, and Remus on his lips for long enough that he almost forgot all about panicking.

It was a brief reprieve, though. Dora took Teddy, cuddling him under her chin, and the interrogation commenced. "What did my boys do today?"

Remus took a deep breath. "We went for a walk in the park, and Teddy had a nice long nap. And then—" he felt his face grow warm—"I thought we'd go out and bring back something nice for supper. In honour of your first full week back in the Auror Division."

"Oh!" Dora looked very pleased. "What did you get? Let me have a look!"

He closed his eyes. "I, um..."

She touched his arm. "What's wrong?"

He blinked and tried again, but his voice was very small "I...can't find it."

"You _what?_" Her eyes danced with suppressed laughter.

Remus could feel himself going redder still. "It was all in a big box. I shrank it and put it in my pocket, right at the bottom so it wouldn't spill, and...that's the last thing I remember."

Dora tilted her head, eyes still laughing, and raised her wand. "_Accio_—"

"No!" The hoarse shout made Teddy hiccough again. "Sorry, lad." Remus smoothed down the soft fuzzy hair that had turned scarlet to match Dora's robes. "But don't _summon_ it, Dora—there's a cream cake!"

"Oh!" Her eyes widened at the narrow escape.

They stared at each other, with Teddy making soft finger-slurping noises between them. Dora was biting her bottom lip now, still trying not to laugh. Remus took pity on her and grinned, sheepishly. "I know it's around here _somewhere_."

Dora let her chuckle escape. "Right, then. Standard Auror search pattern." She handed Teddy over, went back to the front door, and started moving through the house, inch by inch.

It didn't take long. She came to a plush Hungarian Horntail that Charlie Weasley had sent Teddy for his half-birthday, now sitting on an end table by the sofa, and crowed in triumph.

Remus, bouncing Teddy, came over to see what she'd found. There, in the curve of the dragon's tail, was a very small cardboard box, full of tiny containers that were still gently steaming.

"Oh." He sighed in relief. "I remember now—I set it there, just for a second, so I could get Teddy settled..."

Dora slipped her arm around his waist, and rested her head on his shoulder. "You know something?" she asked softly.

"What's that?" Remus nuzzled the top of her head (lavender today) with his cheek.

"Time was, a certain man I know felt the need to keep total, iron-clad control over everything in his world, every minute." Her hold on him tightened a little. "I'm glad he's at home enough in his life, now, to _lose_ things from time to time."

"I think it's simply inevitable, when there's a baby in the picture," said Remus lightly.

But he shifted Teddy into the crook of one elbow, so that he could wrap an arm around Dora's shoulders and pull her very, very close.

**o—** _fin_ **—o**

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_Author's note:_** This story was originally written for the "Summer Hallows Jumble" at the **metamorfic_moon** community on LiveJournal. **  
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